I decided to fact check. As far as I can tell, the initial stories were all based off of rumour and supposition, amplified by twitter (Elon specifically). I do see stories about the fallout, including a 100M defamation lawsuit. On the balance of probabilities, my factcheck concludes that it is likely a fabricated story.

[–] DSTGU@lemm.ee 8 points 11 months ago

I wouldnt say it was exactly like that. I was there when it was written. It was heavily pushed by a certain annoying subreddit after the initial cheating allegations because it was a funny story and shitstorming it was the funniest thing ever. Only then it has reached main chess subreddit, though that some grandmasters, through them other grandmasters and through them it reached the media. Just somewhere along the line someone missed that it was supposed to be a joke